19 January 2006 Edition

McDowell detains asylum seeker

Deportation - Sligo people join Dublin protest

Two hundred people from Dublin and Sligo protested outside Mountjoy Jail
last Tuesday 17 January at the treatment of Nigerian woman Pamela Izbekhai,
who has been imprisoned while awaiting a deportation decision.

Anger is mounting at Justice Minister Michael McDowell's treatment of
Izbekhai, who is seeking asylum on grounds of fear of bodily mutilation if
she and her two daughters are sent home.

The Nigerian woman's two children, aged three and five, have been taken into
care while their mother awaits their fate.

Pamela was arrested on Thursday 12 January in Sligo. She was en route to see
her two children, whom she had not seen since 8 December when fear of
deportation had forced her into hiding.

That evening local Sligo people came to a silent vigil outside Sligo Garda
Barracks in protest at her detention.

On Friday, Pamela was successful in securing an interim injunction in the
High Court, restraining the Justice Minister from deporting her before her
case receives a judicial review. The case is now set for 10am Monday 23
January, in the High Court.

Tragically Pamela's first daughter died at the age of 19 months, while
undergoing the procedure of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The procedure
is commonly practiced in Nigeria and in some communities is forcibly imposed
on girls. She has stated that her two daughters will be forced to undergo
the rite if they return to the country.

Although the UNHCR recognises fear of FGM as a legitimate ground for asylum,
in Ireland it is treated as a discretionary matter, to be determined by the
Appeals Tribunal.

Speaking on Tuesday in the Irish Times, McDowell claimed that "hundreds, if
not approaching thousands" of applications had been made on this basis. He
went on to say: "We make, I am quite satisfied, very reasonable decisions on
the same basis."

Rosanna Flynn of Residents Against Racism, points out: "One of these
so-called reasonable decisions, only a few months ago, included the
deportation of Abelarde, who was deported despite her fears of enforced FGM."

Speaking at the meeting outside the jail on Tuesday, Rosanna said: "I find
it inconceivable, in this day and age, when Ireland is crying out for
recruits from abroad to our labour force to fund pensions for our current
and ageing workforce, that Pamela, despite her most obviously well-grounded
fears, has not been given asylum here in Ireland.

"Why is Pamela still in jail, separated from her children, who continue to
be in care? Is this a proper way for the Minister to treat those who seek
sanctuary here? Seeking Asylum is a perfectly legitimate pursuit — so why
are asylum seekers jailed, their children taken off them and put into care?"